Deanna Hull

Name: Deanna Hull

Gender: Female

Age: 18

Grade: 12

School: Aurora High School

Hobbies and Interests: Singing, Guitar, Volunteering, Swimming, Socializing

Appearance: At 5'6" and roughly 115 pounds, Deanna Hull does not cut an imposing figure; she's underweight but not unhealthily so. Deanna has a lightness to her frame that's seen from her boyish hips with slim curves at the bust and hips to her thin legs and slender hands and fingers. She has light, palish skin and large brown eyes that she still uses fairly heavy makeup around despite having moved past her emo phase. The rest of her facial features are smooth and mostly blemish-free, but although she's considered reasonably attractive a few proportion issues keep her in check; her nose is a shade lengthy, her jaw a bit too angular.

Dee recently adopted a "Skrillex" hairstyle, cutting the hair on the left side of her head very short, although not shaved, and sweeping the rest to the right, where it reaches a couple inches beyond shoulder length. She's returned her hair to its natural dark brown after last having dyed it black a year ago, and added some lighter shading to it to create depth. She sports two piercings in each ear and has a small red and blue songbird tattoo on her ankle that she got a month after turning 18.

Clothing-wise, Deanna usually wears skinny jeans or tights with cropped tees and hoodies or jackets, and likes dark colors with bright splashes of greens, blues or pinks to liven things up. On the day of the trip she was wearing dark navy jeans, her black Blink Ajaxx wedged sneakers with neon green laces, and a dark grey Abercrombie hoodie over a white-and-green tee.

Biography: Deanna was born slightly premature to 20-year-old Melody Hull on March 20, 1994 in the city of Tacoma, Washington. The pregnancy had been unplanned; Melody was a college dropout and assistant fast-food manager, and her father Ken "K-Double-Why" Yardley was a part-time construction worker and wannabe rapper. Their relationship did not last the length of the pregnancy, and Ken's involvement in his daughter's life was limited to a few token visits and support payments until he moved to Nevada when Deanna was four years old. Melody was a self-professed party girl, but she did a reasonable job of cleaning up her life while pregnant, and with the help of social assistance programs and family members was able to provide her daughter with a stable if low-income home environment. When Deanna was a year old her mother went back to work, and while Melody was working Deanna would, depending on the job schedules of her mother and grandparents, either be cared for by her grandmother or her grandmother's sister-in-law, who worked from home and had three children of her own. Deanna also occasionally spent time with her great-grandparents, as they were the only close relatives that were retired and thus available at any time, but both were in their seventies and weren't quite willing or able to take on the burden of watching over a toddler on a full-time basis.

Dee, as she came to prefer to be known, grew up without a father figure. Her grandfather was caring but not around often enough, and none of her mother's various boyfriends over the years showed much interest in that role, but by all accounts she was a well-adjusted girl. She was quiet and somewhat shy, but never seemed to have trouble with other students at school, falling naturally into one group of friends or another depending on her grade and classes. Academically, Dee was an average student at best. She liked history and geography, but wasn't a quick learner or good to grasp problem solving techniques, and had particular troubles with math and sciences. Gym was always Dee's least favorite class. She was weaker than average and hated to get sweaty, never showing any aptitude or endurance for sports and physical exertion. Swimming was the one activity she didn't mind, taking several classes at the Tacoma community center, and her infrequent trips to the pool are to this day the only form of exercise that Deanna can really tolerate.

In the sixth grade, her mother's then-boyfriend, a brewery employee who used to play in a local grunge band, taught Deanna the basics of guitar, and she developed an interest in learning how to play. Dee had always enjoyed music, both the bubblegum pop that was popular at school and more mature female artists like Joss Stone and Norah Jones, and her mother was supportive as she'd been hoping for Dee to discover a hobby she'd stick with and enjoy. Dee's grandparents bought her a guitar that Christmas, and although private music lessons were out of reach, her mother was able to sign her up for introductory lessons at the Dash Center, a Tacoma nonprofits arts program geared towards lower-income youths. Deanna developed into a decent guitar player, and also surprised people when she would sing along to what she played, showing a contralto-style vocal ability that was rough and unpolished yet undeniably talented. However, she shied away from any urges to perform outside of class, being content to keep her music a hobby for the time being and easily embarrassed when she got compliments about her talent.

In the meantime, Dee's mother Melody had begun working at the Muckleshoot Casino in nearby Auburn, starting as a server and progressing to a blackjack and poker dealer after completing the required courses. There she met Paul Lofton, a program project director for the city of Seattle's Executive Services Department. Paul was eighteen years older than Melody and unhappily married, and had been spending many evenings and weekends at the casino as form of escapism. The two struck up a friendship that quickly escalated into an affair and ended with Paul separating from his wife and inviting Melody to move in with him. Melody quit her job at the casino, and she and Deanna joined Paul in his new Seattle home in July 2008, where she began working towards becoming an events planner. The two would get married next January by a justice of the peace, doing so mainly for legal and financial reasons and not wanting to bother with a ceremony.

Deanna came to Seattle alongside her mother, the move having been planned for the summer before she began high school, and was suddenly vaulted into a brand new income bracket. Paul had taken a hit to his finances as a result of the divorce and his son's university costs, but his six-figure salary still offered a level of luxury that Dee was totally unaccustomed to. Dee's relationship with her future stepfather was cordial, but awkward and often chilly. She was embarrassed by the knowledge that her mother's relationship was borne from her affair with a married man almost old enough to be her grandfather. She also felt sullen at having been shunted aside by her mother in favor of a guy that Dee thought often treated her like a piece of unwelcome furniture or inconvenient accessory that his new trophy wife just had to bring along. Melody did make efforts to bridge the gap that was opening up between them, but Deanna wouldn't always reciprocate, especially after she found out that her mother and Paul were discussing the possibility of having a child together.

At Aurora, Deanna's grades were the same B's and C's that she'd gotten throughout school. She wasn't outright lazy with her work; too much of it just always felt like a useless slog to her, and she had a habit of getting flustered and giving up early on problems that stumped her. She did keep up with the guitar and enjoyed the music classes that Aurora offered, but didn't get involved in extracurricular activities. Dee also began babysitting in the ninth grade under pressure from her mother to learn more responsibility, taking some basic Red Cross classes in first aid and safety techniques. She found the work was often boring, but as someone who had always liked to help out so long as it wasn't too stressful or demanding, Dee enjoyed her babysitting jobs more than she'd accepted to, and was generally well-liked by both children and parents.

When it came to socializing, Dee still got along well with people at Aurora, and developed a close-knit if fluid group of friends without much difficulty. People liked her helpfulness and complementary nature, and when it came to group decisions and trends Dee was always glad to let other people take the lead and put her own personal touches on things only when she could.

Deanna was also eager to go along with the herd through various phases of rebellion and rulebreaking, seeing them as opportunities to get back at her mother and Paul. She took up smoking flavored herbal and clove cigarettes until sales of them were banned in the fall of 2009, and experimented with various emo and scenester hair and makeup styles. She also developed her shoplifting habit at this time, starting when she and two friends were at Claire's and just wanted to see if they could get away with it. They did, and although Deanna could easily afford most of the items she'd steal, she liked the adrenaline rush and feelings of both danger and independence that shoplifting gave her. She did try to be careful, but gradually moved from occasional lifting with friends to more numerous and unassisted attempts until her luck ran out.

When she was 16, Dee was detained by a loss prevention agent at Sephora while trying to leave with $95 worth of merchandise. She surrendered the stolen makeup to management in the hopes of being let off with a warning, but the store was in the midst of a crackdown on shrink and took her information, phoned the police, and banned her from the store for three years. The police cited her, but as a minor and first-time offender, Dee was automatically entered into Seattle's juvenile diversion program instead of facing criminal charges. She attended a hearing with her parents, and her record was expunged after Dee completed the program by performing 15 hours of community service at the Seattle Children's hospital and finishing an online course on theft and shoplifting awareness. The entire incident left Dee mortified with shame and angry at herself and others, but she did end up enjoying her volunteering at the hospital enough to keep it up on a mostly-weekly basis since then. She was also mostly scared away from further shoplifting, as a second arrest would result in her actually going through the courts system. The urge has only gotten the better of Dee a few isolated times since then, and she's only given in and swiped something when she's absolutely sure that there's next to no chance that she'll be caught.

Deanna's citation also forced her into several arguments and confrontations regarding her behavior with Paul and her mother, who was by then three months pregnant with Dee's half-sister Avery. These actually served to improve the family's relationship somewhat as they sought a sort of compromise in regards to getting along with each other better. Dee even grew some grudging respect for Paul when he advised her not to bother paying Sephora the civil recovery demand they sent her, as he'd talked over the situation with some legal friends of his who advised him that Sephora rarely bothered spending the resources to follow up on them. She's mostly accepted her mother's marriage by now, although with Melody now busy with both her job and the new baby, their relationship remains somewhat distant.

In the spring of her junior year, a couple friends finally persuaded Dee to try singing in public, and she hesitantly picked up her guitar and took the stage for open mic night at some of Seattle's less populated coffee ships. Her voice had grown a rough, soulful edge that she tried too hard to make sound like Amy Winehouse and she was mostly met with polite applause, but that and disinterest was what most everyone received and Dee, expecting the worst, was thrilled. She began performing on a more frequent basis, playing toned-down indie rock and pop music covers, and on one such night was followed on stage by the white rapper antics of Whitney MacGregor, whom she recognized from Aurora. Although they had nothing in common musically, Dee and Mac ended up connecting that night over shared stage fright experiences, and struck up a romance that lasted the length of their senior year. Dee had only dated sparingly beforehand, but she found Mac to be an oddly ideal boyfriend for her; he was tall, caring, made her laugh, and like her was undemanding when it came to a relationship and happy not to push things too far.

Over the summer, Dee had originally gotten a student landscaping job with the Seattle Parks Department thanks to her stepfather, but she hated the physical work and quit after only a week, eventually finding a part-time job with a local coffee house that was thankfully independent and so didn't bother subscribing to the National Retail Theft Database. She kept up the job but cut down her hours during her senior year, having decided to finally make an real attempt to bring her grades up. The effort paid off somewhat as her grades did improve a bit, but Dee hasn't been able to really figure out her plans for the future beyond Aurora. She doesn't see a real chance of making it in the world of music beyond maybe attending the next American Idol auditions in the Seattle area, and although she's taken an interest in writing her own songs, she hasn't actually performed anything original. She's considered looking at getting into nursing, but for now will likely be taking a year at North Seattle Community College in the hope that some inspiration will strike. Her relationship with Mac also ended a couple weeks before the senior trip, as the end of high school and mutual frustrations with what exactly the two of them were looking for had caused it to fracture during the last month of school, and Mac finally broke things off by telling Dee that he'd discovered she wasn't what he was looking for in a girlfriend. Dee was angry, but couldn't quite call herself completely heartbroken over Mac, and is looking forward to the senior trip to get her mind off of things for a while.

Advantages: Deanna likes helping people and is generally good in social situations, getting along with most people and having very few enemies amongst Aurora students. She's also aware of her surroundings and doesn't call attention to herself in such situations, knowing when to stay out of the way, and she's able to steal items and conceal things from other people fairly well if the need arises. Dee's a decent swimmer who is lightweight and fairy agile, and doesn't eat much, and she also knows some basic first aid and CPR techniques from her babysitting courses.

Disadvantages: Deanna is a follower, not a leader. She's never been much of an independent thinker, preferring to let others take charge and go along with them, which could lead to any number of bad situations. In the face of adversity Dee doesn't necessarily just quit, but often looks for the easy way out of things, having a tendency to freeze up and make poor choices. Moreover, outside of her being able to swim she's completely unathletic, has zero endurance, and is likely one of the physically weakest students in the senior class.

Designated Number: Female student No. 038

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Designated Weapon: Freddy Kruger Glove Replica

Conclusion: If this girl amounts to anything, it'll likely be the incompetent but helpful and loyal follower of someone more ambitious and suited for the island. Not a contender. - Penny Sullivan

'The above biography is as written by D/N. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: D/N

Kills: None

Killed By: Katarina Konipaski

Collected Weapons:  Freddy Kruger Glove Replica (Assigned Weapon, lost), J.R. Rizzolo's tire iron (from Veronica McDonald)

Allies: Kyran Dean, Cammy Davidson. Ruby Forrester

Enemies: Sharon Elizabeth Austin, Katarina Konipaski

Mid-game Evaluation:

Post-Game Evaluation:

Memorable Quotes:
 * "It didn't take a lot. Not really."

Threads
Below is a list of threads that contain Deanna, in chronological order.

V5:
 * Black and Smoking Christmas Trees
 * Don't Stop, Tick Tock, Sun Blows Up Today
 * Disneyland's Enchanted Tiki Room
 * The Dead Nineties
 * Joy of Repetition - Kills You
 * The Time For Talk Is Now
 * What Do I Do Now?
 * You're Driftwood
 * Hunger for Freedom
 * Girls from the Valley
 * Lucifer Fell
 * A Hot Air Balloon with a Rusty Nail
 * Paper Conquest
 * Broken Hearts of Gold
 * Underneath this Adolescent Sky

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Deanna Hull. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''

D/N deserves a lot of kudos for what lengths he goes to with the concept of "voice". Everything from her dialogue feels in-tune and natural without being biased towards her. Lot of fun, tons of personality, and something that could do with a good look or two. - Un-Persona